Nripendra Mishra Current Affairs - 2019

The Union government has formed a high-level inter-ministerial task force to look into all the strategic aspects of Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan.

Mandate of Task force is to take all important strategic and policy decisions. Thus, it will be an all-powerful body which will take decisions regarding the treaty.

It will be headed by Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Nripendra Mishra. Besides, other members of it include NSA Ajit Doval, foreign secretary S Jaishankar and secretaries in ministries of finance, power, water resource and environment. Besides, chief secretaries of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir are invitees in the task force.

Background

The high-level inter-ministerial task force has been formed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held a review meeting on the 56-year-old Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan in the aftermath of series of cross-border terror strikes including Uri attack. In that meeting, it was also decided that India will exploit to the maximum water of Pakistan-controlled Rivers including Jhelum.